Precious Metal Recovery From E-waste

The Delmer Precious Metal Refinery Plant is an advanced, fully integrated system engineered for the recovery and refining of precious and base metals from electronic waste (e-waste). The plant is designed to process materials such as printed circuit boards (PCBs), CPUs, RAMs, IC chips, and other electronic components, ensuring maximum recovery efficiency and environmental sustainability.

Built with decades of expertise in WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) recycling, Delmer’s refinery system combines mechanical separation, thermal smelting, and chemical refining in a single modular setup. This process ensures that metals such as gold(Au), silver(Ag), copper, platinum, and palladium are recovered with high purity while minimizing emissions, energy use, and waste generation.

Key Highlights of the Refinery Plant

• Comprehensive Metal Recovery: The plant achieves over 99% recovery rate for copper and precious metals during the smelting and electro-refining stages, ensuring minimal material loss.
• High-Purity End Products: Produces 99.99% pure silver, 99.9% pure gold, and LME-A grade copper cathodes (99.99%), meeting global industrial standards.
• Eco-Friendly and Sustainable Design: Features multi-stage fume purification, wastewater recycling, and process waste treatment systems that align with international environmental regulations.
• Quick Installation and Mobility: Delivered in skid-mounted modules, the plant is pre-tested at the factory for faster installation, start-up, and operation at the client’s site.
• Versatile Input Handling: Processes various e-waste feed stocks including PCBs, tin slag, and other metallic residues, optimizing output from mixed material streams.

The Recovery and Refining Process

1. Pre-Treatment Unit 

The process begins with dismantling and shredding PCB materials. The PCB dismantling machine is integrated with a smoke processing system that captures and filters harmful gases released during heat treatment.

Subsequent crushing, grinding, and electrostatic separation stages recover up to 95% of metal components while removing non-metallic materials like resin and glass fiber. A pulse dust collection system maintains a clean and safe environment throughout. 

2. TBRC Furnace (Top Blowing Rotary Converter)

The TBRC furnace is the core smelting unit of the refinery. It continuously rotates during the smelting phase, ensuring uniform melting and efficient removal of impurities. Crushed PCBs and flux are fed into the furnace through an automatic charging system, producing black copper alloy and low-copper slag. The TBRC furnace combines smelting and oxidation refining in one chamber, increasing metal yield and reducing slag waste.

Key Benefits:

● High recovery rate for gold(Au), silver(Ag), copper, and PGMs

● Reduced copper content in slag (<0.2%)

● Fully automated operation with Siemens PLC control system

● Equipped with oxy-fuel burners and hydraulic tilting system

3. Anode Furnace

The anode furnace receives blister copper from the TBRC process for final refining. Each batch (4 tons) undergoes melting, refining, and casting to produce copper anodes with 98.5%–99.5% purity. A UV flame monitoring system, nitrogen purging safety feature, and fully controlled refining lance ensure safe and precise operation.

4. Copper Electro-Refining

Copper anodes are electro-refined to produce high-purity copper cathodes (99.99%). The electrolytic cells are designed with polymer concrete tanks for durability and energy efficiency.

This step also generates anode slime, a by-product rich in gold, silver, and platinum group metals, which is later processed in dedicated refining units. 

5. Silver Refining Unit

Silver is recovered through electrolytic refining using nitric acid-based systems. The process converts silver ions into metallic silver crystals with 99.99% purity. This unit includes an automatic silver nitrate preparation system, anode slime collection, and silver crystal discharge automation, ensuring higher productivity and reduced manual handling.

6. Gold and PGM Refining Unit

The Gold Refining Unit uses the traditional Aqua Regia process (HCl + HNO3) to dissolve and recover pure gold.

Innovative glass-lined reactors with precise temperature and pressure control improve safety and efficiency.

Gold is precipitated using sodium metabisulfite, resulting in 99.9% pure gold. The same system also recovers platinum and palladium from anode residues using specialized chemical reactors. 

7. Process Waste Treatment

To maintain environmental compliance, all liquid wastes are treated using chemical- physical neutralization and filtration systems.

Caustic soda and aluminium sulfate are used for neutralization and flocculation, while an evaporator recovers 90% of process water for reuse.

The resulting sludge is safely collected and disposed of according to European waste codes (CER). 

8. Fume Purification & Water Treatment

All exhaust gases are purified in multi-stage scrubber towers, using alkaline or acidic solutions depending on the gas composition.

The system effectively removes NOx, SOx, HCl, NH3, and other pollutants before releasing clean air into the atmosphere.

A dedicated water purification unit with reverse osmosis and demineralization systems ensures consistent water quality for refining and electrolysis. 

9. Laboratory Analysis

The plant includes a cupellation laboratory, recognized by LBMA standards, for testing the purity of recovered metals.

Advanced analytical equipment ensures precise metal content verification, supporting transparent refining operations.

Technical Specifications

Parameter	Specification
Processing Capacity	1,500 tons of PCBs + 500 tons of copper scrap per year
Copper Output	900 tons per year
Copper Cathode Purity	99.99% (LME-A Grade)
Gold Purity	99.9%
Silver Purity	99.99%
Energy Supply	400V, 3-phase, 50Hz
Steam Requirement	0.6 MPa
Cooling Water Flow	20 m³/h
Automation System	Siemens PLC with HMI touchscreen
Environmental Controls	Fume scrubbers, wastewater treatment, evaporator recovery system

Advantages of Delmer Refinery Plant

● Complete turnkey system for e-waste recycling and precious metal recovery 

● Energy-efficient and compliant with EU emission standards 

● Compact, modular design suitable for fast installation

● Integrated automation and process monitoring

● Proven European technology with global support and training

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